RESOURCES for child advocates - foster care

This is an official site of Ohio.gov, offering lots of helpful information about foster care, adoption, and kinship care in Ohio and how you can have a lasting positive impact on a child’s life. "Every year, people open their homes to children in need − and they don’t all have fancy houses or graduate degrees. What they do have is 100% Heart."

There are several private groups (most are online) that allow healthy discussion and connection for Ohioans. If you are:

- An Ohio foster parent

- An Ohio adoptive parent

- An Ohio adoptee of any age

- An Ohio kinship caregiver

- Dealing with prenatal exposure

Bike Lady can help you connect with peers who can offer support.

Sesame Street in Communities builds on an almost 50-year commitment to caring for the developmental, physical, and emotional needs of children. Thoroughly researched and tested with families, these resources are proven to make a measurable difference for kids, and make your job as a parent a little bit easier.  

 The Annie E. Casey Foundation is devoted to developing a brighter future for millions of children at risk of poor educational, economic, social and health outcomes. Advancing research and solutions to overcome the barriers to success, helping communities demonstrate what works and influencing decision makers to invest in strategies based on solid evidence. 

A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to print and electronic publications, websites, databases, and online learning tools for improving child welfare practice, including resources that can be shared with families. 

This legal clinic responds to the needs of systems-involved (child welfare/foster care, juvenile justice, mental health and/or developmental disabilities) youth ages 16-25 with information, legal counseling, and representation.  Clients are an especially vulnerable population – many are homeless, have aged out of foster care, have had juvenile justice system involvement and/or are victims of crime. 

The nation's only monthly magazine devoted to foster care is run by former foster kid, Chris Chmielewski. He is currently transitioning from a printed magazine to an online digital format. Foster Focus often features child advocates, scholars, bloggers, etc.

  The Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board (OHIO YAB) is a statewide organization of young people (aged 14-24) who have experienced foster care. OHIO YAB exists to be the knowledgeable statewide voice that influences policies and practices that affect all youth who have or will experience out-of-home care. 

The mission of the National Foster Parent Association is to be a respected national voice for foster, kinship, and adoptive families through networking, education, and advocacy.